1) Tour groups: The most important thing to avoid during the spring is groups of prospective students wandering around campus. First, they generally travel in groups of 15 to 20, and they love to walk three- or four-across, thus blocking the entire sidewalk, so the only way to get around them is by walking into oncoming traffic. (If you have this option, take it. It's worth the risk. Trust me.) These groups are made up of annoying young people who a) haven't yet learned the college etiquette of sidewalking, b) are too busy trying to look like they're not with their parents to notice that they are in your way, and c) are still young and innocent and have not yet had their souls crushed by the tribulations of college, therefore I resent them greatly and must channel my bitterness into mocking. They also make frequent stops in front of buildings so their group leaders (whom I resent even more for their well-adjustedness and perkiness) can spout off some boring facts about the history of the college and blah blah blah. (Honestly, just read the brochure and get out of my way.)
2) People with clipboards and/or fliers: It's the clipboards that are the real enemy here. Anyone holding a clipboard clearly wants something from you, and they are bold enough to actually move into your path, so the old head-down-fake-texting bit won't do any good. My suggestion is to find a shield, someone to walk in front of you and divert any undesirables. You probably want to find someone bigger than you, and ideally alone. Big groups are quicker to blow off the clipboarders, leaving you as the straggling gazelle (the one who gets eaten by the lion, in case that metaphor wasn't clear), unless you can assimilate into the group as they pass by (high degree of difficulty). For instance, today these clipboard-bearing activists were swarming all over the courtyard outside the dining hall. First, I was shadowing a couple of sorority girls (not ideal, but it worked), and when they got nabbed by a clipboarder, I leap-frogged to a burly loner guy whom I followed to safety. Unfortunately, on my way out of the building I was cornered by two tour groups and a clipboard. I had to choose between the lesser of two evils and ended up writing a letter to Congressman Tom Perriello about providing clean energy jobs for the state of Virginia. (Granted, this was mostly just a strategic move in order to give the tour groups time to disperse before I escaped the courtyard.)
3) Freshmen: Once you're out of the central campus area, you're out of range of most of the threats of spring, but there's still one more to watch out for. It's just like in the Pokémon video game, when you make it out of Rock Tunnel, past all the trainers and Zubats, but just as you exit the cave, one more trainer ambushes you. Your Pokémon are too weak to fight, and you black out, getting sent back to the Poké Center before the cave. (Okay, the first part of that tangent is actually relevant.) So you're on your way back to your dorm, but you have to walk through freshman dorms. Watch out for freshmen partaking in frisbee, football, tanning, and general frivolity. These carefree young students are like the touring prospectives in that they still haven't been appropriately beaten down by college, so they're all cheerful and excited and shirtless. The bathing-suit-clad girls tanning are annoying but avoidable, since they usually lay on the grass. It's the guys you have to watch out for. They enjoy flaunting their perceived "pimpness" (for lack of a better word) by standing directly between you and your destination while throwing projectile objects dangerously close to you. Sometimes they are considerate enough to pause their fun-having in order for you to walk past them, but sometimes they're just idiots. Like yesterday, when I was walking to class, and two annoying (I don't know them, I'm just assuming) freshmen were throwing a frisbee, which came THIS CLOSE to hitting my face. I literally had to dodge the flying disc as I was walking. Had I not been running late for class, I would have stopped to berate them, and possibly inflict physical violence, but instead I just gave them a solid Death Glare and most definitely did not laugh with them as they enjoyed their little shenanigans. Do not cross me, freshmen.
That being said, yeah, I kinda miss the snow right about now. It kept everyone indoors and out of my way.